"When discussing the Irish in twentieth century Britain, one could be forgiven for thinking first of the ‘Irish Navvy’, building workers who were as notorious for their alleged drunkenness as for their prevalence on construction sites in post-war Britain... This article will focus on the Irish nursing staff employed at Glenside Hospital, Bristol’s psychiatric hospital from the end of the First World War. This is predominantly based on staff records from the hospital, which were often very detailed and included next of kin, as well as nationality, length of employment, religious affiliation and general comments from the matron on the suitability of the individual for nursing".
Tag: Bristol
Aftermaths of war: Bristol in three civil defence plans, 1939-1967
"Three civil defence exercises covering Bristol – in 1939, the 1950s and 1960s – not only have an eerie fascination for their word-pictures of a city plunged into imaginary wars; the written scenarios also throw light on what concerned the scenario writers. As the likely damage in war became more than the authorities could handle, so the planners’ responses took a sinisterly authoritarian turn"
‘Freedom of Soul’: Bristol and Opposition to the First World War
"In the first decade of the 20th century, the Bristol Socialist Rambling Club had better things to think about than the possibility of world war. On their expeditions, they recorded, tea was ‘partaken of at a pre-arranged beauty spot’, ‘games were participated in’ and a choir‘delighted all by rendering of part songs and glees". Colin Thomas looks at the actions taken by the Left in Bristol in the run-up to World War One, and what paths were taken as the conflict loomed over Bristol.
The 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage, Electioneering and Women’s Politics in Bristol
"The aim of this article is also to shift attention away from the suffragettes towards a consideration of the broader base of suffrage politics in Bristol in the immediate pre-war years. By examining the non- militant, or constitutional movement, we can gain a more complex picture of the nature of support for women’s suffrage and can assess its long lasting influence on the politics of the city".
A Missing Nave and the Development of Private Housing at Bristol Cathedral (PART TWO)
"In RH 26, Joyce Moss outlined some of the difficulties surrounding the development of secular housing in and around the sacred ground of Bristol Cathedral between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Here she concludes her study with a further examination of the surviving evidence and some further thoughts about the conflicting interests of ecclesiastical morality and financial stability as many of the houses became dilapidated and were demolished in the 1830s".
Katherine Robinson and Sarah Terrett: two Nonconformist women in nineteenth century Bristol
In this article, Linda Wilson looks at two nonconformists of 19th Century Bristol, arguing that despite occupying different spheres in life, both can be thought of as pioneers. The aim is to fill the gap of knowledge about "women who worshipped in the more conventional predominantly evangelical denominations", and how they functioned as a part of society.
Tobacco Pipes as Barter Goods on Bristol Slavers
"With the ending of the London monopoly of trade with Africa in 1698, there began a period when Bristol slowly asserted itself as the chief slave trade port of Britain. From a position of only two or three voyages a year, the trade grew to ten voyages annually by 1707, twenty-seven voyages in 1717 and forty-eight voyages in 1725. There are six hundred known slave voyages which departed from Bristol in those three decades up to 1730". Peter Taylor looks at how small shipments of tobacco pipes were taken on around half of voyages as bartering material, and what impact this had on trading from Bristol.
A Shining Wedge of Water: The Battle for Bristol’s City Docks, 1969-1975
"One of the things that every civic-minded Bristolian ‘knows’ is that at some point in the 1960s or 70s the City Council planned to cover over or fill in the Floating Harbour". Eugene Byrne sheds light on the effort to save such an important part of the historical landscape in Bristol.
Somerset Working Memories: The ‘Home in Frome’ Oral History Project
"This article is intended as an exercise in‘reflective practice’ rather than a piece of academic writing. It describes an innovative and successful oral history project at Frome in Somerset, which resulted in the publication of a book called Working Memories, reviewed elsewhere in this edition of Regional Historian.The article covers the background to the project;the choice of sample of 90 people interviewed;the collection of photos and memorabilia; the editing of the interviews; how oral history relates to other forms of history; and some substantive and methodological conclusions that might be drawn from the project".
Faces of the Asylum: The Patients of the Bristol Lunatic Asylum in the Nineteenth Century
Bristol Record Office holds a remarkable photographic archive of patients in Bristol’s nineteenth century Lunatic Asylum. In this article, Paul Tobia asks what these compelling and intimate portraits can tell us.